We are responsible for the safety of the toys as well as the product quality. It’s not a responsibility we take lightly.
The plush toys we manufacture for our clients and ultimately for children, meet and exceed all the main global safety standards and regulations such as:
- EU: EN:71
- US: CPSC, CPSIA
- Intl/US: ASTM F963-11
- We test for a large variety of hazards. Below is a list of just a few things we test for:
Toxicological/chemical hazards which include soluble heavy metals: tests are run on the toy’s materials and its surface coatings to check for harmful substances like mercury and lead.
Flammability hazards: toys are tested to ensure that they don’t easily ignite.
Packaging & labeling: toy packaging and labels are verified to ensure they meet all guidelines and include all required elements.
Mechanical hazards: toys are subjected to drop tests, push/pull tests, choking/suffocation tests, and sharpness and puncture tests.
Metal Detection: all toys leaving our factory has been through the metal detector to be 100% sure that there are no broken needle tips.
We can also assist you in organizing 3rd party inspection. The normal 3rd party inspection cycle is between 3-5 days. There is an express service at a 30% surcharge provided by the Import & Export Toy Inspection Institute of China and an emergency service at a 100% surcharge.
These are the requirements needed for samples:
| Standard applied | Type of sample | Requirements on samples submitted |
| EN71 | Soft toyHard toy | 4 sets per item and a piece of 50*50 centimeter of square per fabric4 sets per item, if there is coating on the sample, 50ML of paint per color or a 15*15 centimeter of square painted board per color is required. |
| EN62115 | Electric toy | 4 sets per item and relevant circuit diagram, list of IC parts, including electronic parameters and circuit board |
| EMC | Electric toy | 3 sets per item and relevant circuit diagram |
| ASTMCPSC | Soft toyHard toy | 4 sets per item and a piece of 50*50 centimeter of square per fabricIf there is coating on the sample, 50ML of paint per color or a 15*15 centimeter of square painted board per color is required |
| AZO | Textile or leather | A piece of 50*50 centimeter of square cover material |
| Cadmium | All toys | 3 sets of sample, 20g of plastics, coasting and packing materials on the sample respectively |
The following flow chart maps out the process:
Source: http://www.ytii.com/eng/
New safety requirements to apply to all toys for European market in 2013
The new limits and additional restrictions on various heavy metals (plus Organic Tin and Chromium VI) comes into force in July 2013 as part of the new Toy Safety Directive, increases the chemical testing requirements from 8 heavy metals to 19, and will apply to all toys sold on the European market.
As we always require the highest of quality from our self and our suppliers, SCT Plush is already testing all our plush toys according to the new standards. Our customers can feel safe knowing that the products we deliver live up to all the future requirements.
The following table shows the limits of the 19 heavy metals concerned:
| Specimen | Abr | Limit | ||||||
| Soluble Aluminium | (Al) | 70000mg/kg | Soluble Nickel | (Ni) | 930mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Arsenic | (As) | 47mg/kg | Soluble Lead | (Pb) | 160mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Boron | (B) | 15000mg/kg | Soluble Antimony | (Sb) | 560mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Barium | (Ba) | 56000mg/kg | Soluble Selenium | (Se) | 460mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Cadmium | (Cd) | 17mg/kg | Soluble Tin | (Sn) | 180000mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Cobalt | (Co) | 130mg/kg | Soluble Strontium | (Sr) | 56000mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Chromium | (Cr) | 460mg/kg | Soluble Zinc | (Zn) | 46000mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Copper | (Cu) | 7700mg/kg | Soluble Chromium (VI) | (Cr(VI)) | 0.2mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Mercury | (Hg) | 94mg/kg | Soluble Organic Sn | (sn) | 12mg/kg | |||
| Soluble Manganese | (Mn) | 15000mg/kg | ||||||